Car-door fastener



Feb. 1, 1927. 1,615,944

F. S. HETRICK CAR DOOR FASTENER Patented Feb. 1, 1927.

NTE STATES 1,615,944 PATENT GFF-1GB.

FRANK S. HETRICK, OF BANKS, MISSISSIPPI.

- oAR-noon Application filed June 4,

The object of this invention ,is to securely hold freight car .doors closed. glwith the door `closing fasteners heretofore employed on freight car doors, a large number of them have come loose andswingout at,the bottom, strikingoppositely moving cars or other obstructions, and are, thus destroyed. The tendency toward-s the lower` part of the door to move outward is increasedby centrifugal force while ,rounding a curve at speed and also often by the contents of .the car tending to, forceathedoor outward.

It hasbeen customary` to securesliding doors of freight cars by a sealedwirepassing through loops or the like at one` side of the door. iThat leaves the .other side of the door insecure and liable to be forcedrout- Ward so as to breakthe sealed fastening or to be engaged by.. something that will dislodgethe door. To overcome ithisdiihculty is the object of 4my invention.

I, combinevvith .the car, sliding door,`and sealed .fastening atone side of the door, releasablevmeansfor securing. the other side of the door tothe car so as to prevent both i. outward and lateral.movementthereof.l `Anone to` engagey the l.curved y,surface ofthe v`cam lug in the `socket y and `theother `toA engage the ,inclined side, of Saidcam lug andthus wedge Ainto ,the .socketso as to ,prevent outward and lateral movement of thevdoor.

l \The fullinature ofthe ,invention will be understood from e `the accompanying draW- ings and the following` description and claims.

In .the-,drawings Figure Aly is a perspective View of a portion ofthe side; of theifreight ca-rwvithqthe doorisecured, partsof the carsbeing broken away;y Fig. 2 is a frontelevation'of Vapor tion of what is .shownii-n Fig. 1 atzthe right hand .end ofvthe door with the doorsecured to the lcar, parts beingbrokenayvaw Fig. 3 is an elevation oftpart ofthe right hand side of theidooiyand theicamfhead.secured thereto with ithe same'inidle position when the door is open; Fig. l is an elevationof rAsTnN-En.

192e. serial No. 113,692.

portion of the side of the car and ofthe socket secured therein, part of the car ybeing broken away; Fig. 5 is a rear elevation of the lcam head andxhandle lshown in Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is a vertical transverse section through a portion of the side of the car at the righthand yend oftthe door and an elevation of. the door andthe 4fastening means constituting the ,chief ffeature 0f this invention partly inelevation and partlyv` insection and `when the parts vare not l fastened together, the car and door being largely broken away; Fig. 7 is the same as Fig. 6 after .thedoor has been secured'. tothe car by theoperation. of the fastener; andFig. 8 is ahorizontal section .through a portion of the `car anddoor and fastener on the line 8.8 of, Fig. 1.

4The :drawings hereinfpresented for Vthe purpose of illustrating the nature of thisinvention show inFig. 1 .the side of a freight car 10, having the usual floor 110,` Adoor opening 210 anddoor jamb .310, roof 11 `and track 12 for the carriers 13 of a sliding door 15. At the leftfhand side of thedoor there isa loop 16 secured tothe door and another loopy 17 secured to the `car and they are secured, together by a Wire 18 fastened through them secured by aseal 19. `*There may also be guide 1brackets 2O secured to the 4car. below the door. l

The foregoing shows a common lfreight car construction. But one .trouble y about such construction is that the door isnot very effectively secured `and heldin its closed position so that it frequently getsaWay and becomes injured or broken. arises from the contents of the car pressing outward vagainst lthe i door, especially during jars and going around curves, butthere are other reasons also .for the doory becoming loose. To more effectively secure `thedoor in its closed position a plate is secured by the screws 26 tothe outside surface of the Vjamb 310 of the lfreight car, usually near. theriglit hand` side ofthe door, and said plateghas a socket 27 in it, that is arcuate in a ,Vertical plane transverse ofthe car asy seen in- Figs. 6 and 7. This sockethas a camlug 28 on the righthand. .side thereof, as seen in Fig. t in front elevation andiin 6 and 7 in verticalsectionand in F ,8 in horizontal section. The left hand., side of said cam lug 28 is inclined, as shown in Fig. ll, so that the lug tapers from thebottom to the/fop When This often4 viewed in front elevation. ln vertical section, as seen in Fig. 7, said lug 28 is curved or arcuate, almost parallel and concentric with the inner wall of the socket.

A cam head 3() is pivoted on the right hand side edge of the door hy a bolt 3l, as seen in Figs. 2 and 3. It has a handle 32 which extends downward when the door is open, as shown in Fig. 3, and upwardly when the door is closed, as in l and The cam head is in parts almost as wide as the socket 27 and its outer surface when in the position shown in Fig. 3 and its inner surface when the parts are in locked position are curved with substantially the same curvature as the inner wall of the socket and substantially concentric with the pivot pin or bolt 31. The cam head has a recess at 33 in one side thereof, as seen in Fig. 5, and, when the handle entends downwardly, the recess is wider at the top than at the bottom. But it is the reverse when the handle extends upward. This recess leaves or forms a curved linger or flange 34e, as seen in Figs. 5, 6 and 7. rlhe width of the recess 33 is substantially the same as the thickness of the lug 28 in the socket, and the thickness of the linger or 'flange 34; is such as to enable it to enter and yet substantially lill the space between the inner wall of the socket and the lug 28, as seen in Fig. 7. lhe inner curvature of lthe linger 3d, however, drawn from a slightly different center from which the curvature of the lug 28 is drawn, so that when `the cani head is being moved to locking position as seen in Fig. 7, the linger or flange 34 will wedge cam-like into tighter' and tighter engagement with the lug 28 and the inclined surface of the inner wall of the recess 33 will gradually and more tightly wedge into en gagement with the inclined sid-e of the lug 28. These two peculiarities of the locking engagement of the part of the door with t-he part of the car will not only effectively hold the car door closed, but it will prevent both outward and lateral movement thereof.

lVhen the car door is open and unsecured the handle 32 of the cani head on the door extends downwardly as shown in Fig. 3. lVhen the door is moved to the left to closing position the cani head 3() will be in front of the socket 27 of the car. Then by grasping the lower end of the handle and revolving it upward from the position shown in Fig. 3 to that shown in Fig. 2, the cam head 30 will enter the socket 27 and the flange 34 will move in behind the curved lug 28 in the socket and when the handle reaches the vertical position beside the door the cam head will practically lill the socket and the flange 3lwill be tightly wedged in behind the lug 28 and the body of the cam head wedged in against the inclined side of the lug 28, as shown in Figs. 2, 7 and 8.

The handle is secured in locked position by a wire 35 being inserted through the loop 36 on the handle and the loop 37 on the latch bar 38 secured on the outside of the door and extending behind the vertical strap 39 which is secured to the door, as seen in Figs. l and 2.

In order to more effectively cause the handle 32 and cam head to stay in position, there is a pin -l-O in the handle which enters an elongated hole ll in the socket plate 25 when the handle is turned upwardly to its locking posit-ion.

lt is thus seen that there is here provided the combination with the means for holding the left hand side of the door' in place, of means for securing` the opposite and right hand side of the door of the car so that the door will have neither outward nor lateral movement or play, and the parts are practcally and readily cooperative for effecting this result in a satisfactory manner. The invention, however, is not limited to the particular side of the door to which the fastener composed of the cam head 30 and socket 27 is located.

l claim as my invention:

l. The combination with a freight car and the like having a side door opening, a sliding door therefor, and means for securing one side of the door to the car, of releasable means vfor securing the opposite side of the door to the car so that the door will not have relatively outward and lateral movement, said last-mentioned releasable means consisting of a socket in the side of the car with a cam-shaped lug in one side thereof, a cam head pivoted to the side of the door having a handle and also a laterally-curved flange arranged so that the cam head will wedge in the socket and the curved lia-nge thereon will overlap the cam lug in the socket, and means for fastening the lever to the door for holding the cam head from movement when in locking position.

2. Means for securing the side of a sliding door to a freight car and the like, consisting ofa socket adapted to be secured in the side of the car with a lug on one Side wall thereof which has an inclined lateral surface, and a cam head adapted to be pivoted to the side Iof the door in position to be introduced into the socket when the door is closed, said cam head having a handle for turning the same and having a` recess in the side thereof forming a laterally extending flange adapted to enter the socket behind the cam lug and forming an inclined side surface of the head adapted to wedge against the inclined side surface of the lug in the socket, and means for releasably securing the handle when the parts are in locked position substantially as set forth.

3. The construction set forth in claim 2, with the inner surface of the lug in the socket being arcuate and the inner surface or ange of the earn head being likewise arcuate for engaging the curved surface of the lugs, the curvatures of said two engaging curved surfaces being drawn from dif-v gagernent with the lug inthe socket, Sub stantially as set forth.

5. The construct-ion set forth in claim 2, with vmeans for securing the end of the handle of the cam head to prevent its displacement when the parts are in looked position, a pin extending from the handle, a plate integral with the socket and adapted to be secured to the side of the ear and having a hole in it to receive said pin when the parts are in locked condition, substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto affixed my signature.

FRANK S. HETRICK. 

